Windows Phone 8 SDK Goes Live Along With Eight Days of $8 Registration Fees, Sort Of

If you were wondering just how big is the app ecosystem that will be optimized to take advantage of Windows Phone 8 for whenever you purchase your next device, well the answer is complicated. Microsoft has finally launched the Windows Phone 8 SDK to developers, so for many of the non-premium developers that got an early head start, day zero starts today. There’s a catch though, since if you’re a Windows Phone 8 developer, or are planning to be one, the system doesn’t work on anything that’s not a 64-bit Windows 8 PC. Obviously that makes the chore of porting apps to Windows Phone 8 all the more complex for developers that decided to stay with their beloved Windows 7.

To make this a easier though, Microsoft has just dropped the fee for Windows Store registration significantly. For the next eight days, Microsoft is offering a 92% discount on the registration fees and making the $99 cost drop to just $8. Sadly, there’s also a catch here, as if this wasn’t the common deal with Microsoft. They’ll bill you the $99 and then give you the 92% discount within 30 to 45 days.

We all know that Microsoft promised developers that porting apps from Windows Phone 7 to be better apps on Windows Phone 8 would be a breeze. Sadly many of us wonder if Microsoft really meant what they said. Surely the coding part may be a walk in the park, but obligating developers to move to a 64-bit Windows 8 PC, along with paying $99 to publish an app isn’t necessarily our idea of quick and simple. Add to that the fact that it’s barely out today, which is just days away from Windows Phone 8 devices hitting the market, and the initial selection of apps that’s actually optimized to take advantage of the new OS does seem to be quite grim. Still, as with iOS and Android, this shouldn’t take long and if you come from a Windows Phone 7, well things should theoretically be as they were until things get enhanced, so not all is lost.

Jaime has been a fan of technology since he got his first computer when he was 12, and has followed the evolution of mobile technology from the PDA to everything we see today. As our Multimedia Manger, he’s been in-charge of growing our YouTube hobby into one of the biggest video channels in the industry. When he’s not building one of our videos, or filming our Pocketnow Daily, he can be found in his second biggest passion, which is running and fitness. Read more about Jaime Rivera!